good news about the release of an elderly resident from north korea. this morning we had rain and snow. tonight we'll tell you if the rough area stays in the bay area area. merrill newman, the 85-year-old palo alto man detained in north korea is coming home, saying they were letting him go for humanitarian

reasons. we are live in palo alto where he lives, and his family has got to be thrilled. >> reporter: they are completely thrilled. the word went out here just before a christmas performance, and there was applause of relief. >> this is a great moment for us as a family and it will be even better when we have a chance to be back together in a few hours. >> the son responding to the news about his father's release from custody from the north korean government. >> u.s. and western countries, there's misleading information and propaganda. >> reporter: his release comes a few weeks after this video was released by the north korean government, resume be coerced by government officials, reading a statement apologizing for his part in the war. he traveled to the country with

a friend of his in late october and stayed there with a chinese tour group for a week. he was arrested as he was leaving the country and has been in custody since then. the north korean government released a statement about his release. in the statement it said it deported him because of his apology and due to his age and health concerns. jeffrey says his father's release is great but he wants them to remember another mayor skin who is still being held captive. >> reporter: he also asked that he not forget another american, kenneth bay, who is still being held and we hope healed be allowed to rejoin his family soon. >> he'll be arriving at sfo tomorrow morning. back to you. happening now, it was cold

and wet today in the bay area. you are looking at candle stick, two days before the 49ers square off with the seahawks. there was snow? napa. not quite as cold tonight as it has been. our chief meteorologist is with us. is there another freeze in our future? >> there is, but it's not going to come tonight. it will come into sunday morning. we're dealing with heavy rain right now. let's zoom in. you see the blue there on the screen, not only is that snow but that is heavy snow. right now we're seeing heavy downpours of rain and heavy snow over the higher terrain. this orange here representing pretty good downpours. we're seeing rainfall rates

that are pretty high. 1.9 inches of rain per hour right there over the east bay shoreline. in san francisco we were seeing heavy downpours, as well. you can see the orange here, about a half an inch of rain. ed red is about an inch of rain heading down. as we look at the sierra, we see wide-spread snow. we might see snow locally here in the bay area. emergency crews are on the scene of a water main break in castro valley. several homes have reportedly been damaged. the chp says a fire truck actually fell into a sinkhole while headed to the scene. the water has been shut off in the area. no word on when it will be fixed. the san francisco man killed in a hit and run accident

yesterday has been identified. the accident happened in the mission district about 2:35 thursday morning. a; ellis set up there -- a memorial is set up there. they say he was crossing the street when he was hit. the driver did not stop and he did not get tracked down. >> we're asking anybody who is in a body shop who might come object cross a dark vehicle that has this type of damage to the front of the car to contact the police. >> the victim was a graduate of the san francisco art institute. new at 11:00, this professor says he was full of potential. >> he was a student of mine in the '10 semester. >> reporter: this is the

associate dean of academics at the san francisco art institute. >> i didn't always want to be an artist. >> reporter: but this individual seen in this documentary was a student enrolled in the internship class. >> i soak with his supervisor -- i spoke with his supervisor who said he was so dedicated to his work. >> reporter: his father's alma mater is here, as well. he graduated in 2010 with a degree in painting. >> he was extremely outgoing, eager to learn new skills and apply the skills that he had which were limited at that point as a undergraduate. >> reporter: based on the artwork seen here, it's clear

he was a talented artist. the school learned about his passing thursday morning, the last day of the semester. counseling is available to the students who need it. >> he was extremely committed to the art practice and to the arts in general. he had the tenacity to succeed and the independent spirit that we value here. an update on the pilot and his family from san jose who are still missing and how san francisco police found this man accused of killing two cats on black friday. and the damage done after a south bay driver lost control and plowed into a home. ♪ i love it! ♪ thank you grandma for the dolls. ♪

♪ i love it! ♪ i'm ninja kicking through the halls. ♪ ♪ i love it! ♪ mom's posting pictures on your wall. ♪ ♪ that's my kind of holiday.

♪ i picked it out in a snap ♪ what made it genius ♪ was my camouflage wrap ♪ that's my kind of holiday lost control and hit a house tonight. you can see quite a bit of damage there to the garage. >> this street, this is not the

first time it happened. it happens at least one or twice a month. it's because people speed here and there's no stoplight or anything. >> the two people who were hurt have minor injuries. there's been an arrest in a case of animal abuse. police say a man is facing criminal charges for throwing two cats into the san francisco bay. how rough weather is compromising a search for a san jose pilot and his family in the idaho -- the idaho wilderness. how this woman was shunned by the church of sign scientolog

y.

there's still no sign of the pilot, dale smith, and four members of his family. it's feared their plane went down in the idaho wilderness. bad weather forced today's search to be ended. a family friend has been in touch with smith's wife, janice. >> she's getting increasingly discouraged as the time goes on because of the weather up there. it's just been freezing nights

and very challenging. miracles do happen so we're guardedly hopeful, i guess. >> he's an experienced pilot who has made the trip from san jose to utah many times, doing it to visit a daughter who is fighting cancer. the world honors the memory of mandela who died yesterday. he talked about his legacy. >> he may be one of the most important world leaders, if not the one as the lead are of human concern and freedom and he made them happen in his lifetime and our lifetime. >> he says he'll always remember

him for his encourage and his convictions. police in san francisco have arrested a man suspected of throwing two cats into the bay on black friday. the animals drowned. he was arrested today, eric patterson. he's accused of grabbing a woman's belongings, including two cats, killing the animals. the statewide amber alert for a 14-year-old girl who is believed to be abducted in washington is still in effect. you won't see highway signs lit up and that's because they don't have a highway license number

or have a car. he's suspected of abducting rimaro. they might be passing through this bay year to mexico. we are seeing heavy downpours in portions of the bay area. here is the main band of rain. let's look at where the heaviest areas of rain are. south san francisco down to the airport, moderate rainfall, rates of about a half of inch of rain per hour. the deep reds are even more than that. look at this rate, almost 4 inches per hour. the good news is that it's moving through quickly. we're continuing to see heavy rain over in the area here. you can see the west to east movement, and that's where the

heavy rain is moving right now. the cold front is pushing through. we're seeing heavy snow in the sierra. we have showers that will move in behind the front. the snow level will drop as the cold front pushes through. you can see the cold front placed about where it is right now. it shows it after midnight, down to the south bay, redwood city and fremont, san jose. as we move into the overnight hours, it will push down to the south. this is where the snow levels will drop, to the 2,000 feet. you will see snow popping up in the range and we'll see it in the coastal range, as well. the snow level is as low as 2,000 feet. we have a winter advisory in effect for the san to cruz

mountains, as well. most the precipitation is through the north bay. we could see some accumulations between two and 4 inches overnight, but above 2500 feet. the temperatures tonight are not freezing, but it's anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees warmer than it was 24 hours ago. tomorrow afternoon, the skies will clear and then we'll be left with the cold air mass again and the temperatures will be in the 40s tomorrow afternoon and we'll be gearing up for another freeze into sunday morning. the snow is heavy over the sierra. that's the pink on the screen. we'll see up to 2 feet of fresh powder in the highest elevations and up to a foot on the eastern shore of the lake. in system willed be a fairly fast-moving system. tomorrow afternoon we'll have

drier conditions but cold. sunday, we're gearing up for another freeze warning. temperatures will be in the 20s and 30s and clear skies and calm wind and the cold air. the same thing for monday. but for the rest of the next week, we'll start to warm to more reasonable levels. we're getting new the holiday spirit with this one-hour show, bringing you a look at the beautiful light displays and parties. the amazing holiday lights is next friday night at 9:00 p.m. still ahead, could the warriors have another miracle comeback in houston? an unusual way for a star player to announce his return from year. we have that story and all the sports coming up next.

[ female announcer ] for those who love sweets your season is here. let's just call it the baking time of year. you need special ingredients. you need the staples for homemade.

you need safeway sugar for just a buck eighty-eight. and that magic thing that makes everyone want another only two ninety-nine for challenge butter. and when hands get messy, quite surely they'll say, yum! wow! yay! what a sweeter holiday. safeway. ingredients for life.

for their third straight win in houston tonight taking on the rockets. the 1st quarter, hardin misses the shot but howard is right there. he had 22 points and 18 rebounds, shooting 20 free-throws and made 12 of them. 51-28, rockets, and no comeback from jackson.

curry, a bad pass. hardin, the fast break, a step-over there, maybe a travel. who knows. 65-37. hardin had 34 points. 105-83, the rockets all over the warriors. bryant will return sunday against toronto. he made this announcement posting this dramatic video on his facebook pag . [ playing of video ] >> it's a little much. it went on for two minutes. all right. let's move on. the 49ers face seattle sunday in the big game of the season.

some players are calling it a statement game. >> whenever you play a team and you lose, and the next opportunity you get to play them again, it's definitely a statement game. >> last year, what did we do? split with them? and that's our goal this year. >> it's playoff time already in high school football. this is the open division championship, and patrick walsh uses this method of inspiring. he's talking about the surfer jumping off the cliff. he asked the players to play like that surfer. the third quarter, a pass, and he spins and he's playing like the surfer. serra rolled from there. the coach gets the gatorade

bucket. they go to the northern california regional championship game. all right. cano got $60 million less than he wanted. we'll have to settle for $240 million, the mariners forking over that money macking it the third largest con-- making it the third largest contract. alex rodriguez holds the top two spots. but all the money is guaranteed. the sharks haven't lost back-to-back games in regulation all year until tonight. the sharks took on the hurricanes. braun ties it up. it's 3-all. four minutes and 25 seconds

later, a tip-in, and there it is. 5-3, hurricanes. the sharks loose back-to-back games. usa soccer, a death, and that's not a good thing. first it will be ghana. tiger woods is on fire at the world golf challenge in thousand oaks. the first hole, the put for birdie, making 10 birdie pucks, tying his own record with a 62.

he leads that event by two strokes. >> and no freeze tonight! >> be careful out there. >> have a good weekend!

the world mourns. >> he was an incredible man. a selfless man. >> celebrating his life. ♪ and the moment nelson mandela's daughters learned of his death. with william and kate at the premiere of the new mandela movie. then -- the sound of history. ♪ 19 million people tuned in. the littlest cast members today. >> yay! >> and how did carrie do? and exclusive. paul walker's last photo. >> we have confirmed two fatalities. >> and death's souvenir shocker. >> cops say someone grabbed a piece of the mangled porsche